She vanished.
Kamran fell backward, landing hard in a puddle. His heart was racing. He tried and could not collect his thoughts—he scarcely knew where to begin—and he’d been rooted to the spot for at least a minute when Hazan came running forward, out of breath.
“I couldn’t see where you’d gone,” he cried. “Were you set upon by thieves? Good God, are you hurt?”
Kamran sank fully into the street then, letting himself be absorbed by the wet, the cold, the night. His skin had cooled too quickly, and he felt suddenly feverish.
“Sire, I do not think it advisable to sit here, in th—”
“Hazan.”
“Yes, sire?”
“What were you going to tell me about the girl?” Kamran turned his gaze up to the sky, studying the stars through a web of branches. “You say she is not a spy. Not a mercenary. Not assassin nor turncoat. What, then?”
“Your Highness.” Hazan was squinting against the rain, clearly convinced the prince had lost his mind. “Perhaps we should head back to the palace, have this conversation over a warm cup of—”
“Speak,” Kamran said, his patience snapping. “Or I shall have you horsewhipped.”
“She— Well, the Diviners—they say—”
“Never mind, I shall horsewhip you myself.”
“Sire, they say her blood has ice in it.”
Kamran went deathly still. His chest constricted painfully and he stood up too fast, stared into the darkness. “Ice,” he said.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“You are certain.”
“Quite.”
“Who else knows about this?”
“Only the king, sire.”
Kamran took a sharp breath. “The king.”
“He, too—as you know—had been convinced there was something unusual about the girl and bade me report to him my findings straightaway. I would have come to you sooner with the news, sire, but there were a great many arrangements to be made, as you can well imagine.” A pause. “I confess I’ve never seen the king quite so overwrought.”
“No,” Kamran heard himself say. “This is terrible news, indeed.”
“Her collection has been set for tomorrow evening, sire.” A pause. “Late night.”
“Tomorrow.” Kamran’s eyes were on a single point of light in the distance; he hardly felt a part of his own body. “So soon?”
“The king’s orders, Your Highness. We must move with all possible haste and pray no one else gets to her before we do.”
Kamran nodded.
“It feels almost divine, does it not, that you were so swiftly able to identify her?” Hazan managed a stiff smile. “A servant girl in a snoda? Lord knows we might never have found her out otherwise. You’ve most assuredly spared the empire the loss of countless lives, sire. King Zaal was deeply impressed with your instincts. I’m sure he will tell you as much when you see him.”
Kamran said nothing.
There was a tense stretch of silence, during which the prince closed his eyes, let the rain lash his face.
“Sire,” Hazan said tentatively. “Did you come upon cutthroats earlier? You look as if you came to blows.”
